San Francisco Giants Matt Chapman connects for a two run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sun Jun 30, 2024 (AP News photo)

Sunday, June 30, 2024

Oracle Park

San Francisco, California

Los Angeles Dodgers 4 (52-33)

San Francisco Giants 10 (41-44)

Win: Spencer Bivens (2-1)

Loss: James Paxton (7-2)

Time: 2:27

Attendance: 40,428

By Stephen Ruderman

SAN FRANCISCO–The Giants made a statement today following a tough reality check loss last night, as they annihilated the Dodgers in a huge 10-4 win to take the series from their hated rivals.

Brett Wisely walked off the Dodgers with a two-run home run to end Friday night’s thriller, and then the Dodgers pounded a tired Sean Hjelle for seven runs in the top of the 11th inning Saturday to even the series. Sunday, the Giants looked to take the series on another beautiful day for baseball at Oracle Park.

It appeared that today was going to be another bullpen day for the Giants, but Bob Melvin decided to go to Spencer Bivens for his first major league start. Bivens started the day with a 1-2-3 top of the first inning.

The Dodgers went to left-hander James Paxton. For the second game in a row, Jorge Soler led off the bottom of the first inning with a double down the left field line. Austin Slater walked, and Heliot Ramos lined a base-hit the other way to right field to load the bases with nobody out.

However, Patrick Bailey did exactly what he did with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth inning Sunday, and struck out. Matt Chapman knocked in Soler with a sacrifice fly to left, but Luis Matos popped out, and the Giants were only able to get a run out of it.

Bivens threw another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second, and David Villar and Nick Ahmed started the bottom of the second with base-hits.

Tyler Fitzgerald lined a base-hit off the end of the bat down the right field line, and the bases were going to be loaded. However, Third Base Coach Matt Williams held Villar up at third base after he had already rounded the bag, and Ahmed, who was almost half-way to third was thrown out when he tried to get back to second.

Soler lined a double off the wall in center to score Villar, and Austin Slater knocked in Fitzgerald with a sacrifice fly to right to make it 3-0. However, with the wasted opportunity in the bottom of the first, and the snafu with Williams, Villar and Ahmed, the Giants should have had a bigger lead.

Bivens pitched a scoreless top of the third, and Luis Matos hit a two-out double in the bottom of the third, but got to third on an error by Dodgers’ left-fielder Teoscar Hernandez. Villar doubled the other way to right to make it 4-0, and the Giants had scored in each of the first three innings.

The Giants would finally get a bigger lead in the bottom of the fourth. In fact, it would be a much bigger lead. Fitzgerald grounded a single to left to start the inning, and Soler drew a walk to put runners at first and second with nobody out.

Austin Slater flew out to center, but Ramos hit a double out to the gap in right-center to score Fitzgerald and make it 5-0. Bailey then came through with a two-run double to left to open the lead to 7-0.

That brought up Matt Chapman, who put his stamp on the rally with a two-run home run to left to make it 9-0. The Giants scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth, and they got to James Paxton, who had only lost one game all season coming into Sunday for nine runs over four innings.

Chris Taylor put the Dodgers on the board with a solo home run to straightaway center to make it 9-1. Bivens then gave up a base-hit to Kiké Hernandez, but he struck out Ohtani to end the inning, and let out some emotion on his way off the field.

“[We] just tr[ied] to hit low line drives,” said Manager Bob Melvin. “[Paxton] manages the top of the zone pretty good. [We] tr[ied] to stay off that pitch up there, and to that, a lot of times, you want to stay on top of the ball.”

Bivens was not supposed to go any more than four innings, but Melvin let him back out for the fifth, and he gave the Giants five strong innings when his team needed it the most.

“To go five innings, and strike out Ohtani to get the win, pretty special day for him,” said Melvin. “I think everybody got goosebumps on that one.”

“The first-career start, I’ve been waiting my whole life for that,” said Bivens. It was really special to be able to help the team win…..Whatever they have me do, I’ll do it. [I’m] just happy I was able to help them out.”

“He’s got a much better pitch mix now with the changeup,” Melvin added. “To let him go through Ohtani three times, we have a lot of faith in him. Two times tops [was] what I was looking at, but [we] wanted to get him the win out there…..After a couple of outings, he’s got control of his emotions. We leaned on him today pretty hard, so he’s rewarding us almost every time he goes out there.”

Michael Peterson pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth and a scoreless bottom of the sixth for the Dodgers. Taylor Rogers pitched a 1-2-3 top of the sixth for the Giants, but the Dodgers got to Landen Roupp, who was called up prior to the game, for a run in the top of the seventh.

Yohan Ramirez pitched through some trouble in the bottom of the seventh for the Dodgers, and Roupp pitched a scoreless top of the eighth for the Giants. Evan Phillips came in for Los Angeles in the bottom of the eighth, and with one out, Ramos was hit on the hand by a 96-MPH sinker from Phillips that he swung at for a painful strike.

Ramos appeared to be a bit dinged up, as Melvin and the trainer came out to check on Ramos, but he stayed in, and ended up lining a double down the right field line for his third hit of the game. Bailey then hit a ground-rule double to right-center to knock in Ramos and make it 10-2.

Ramos had cooled off over the last couple of weeks, as the league has begun to figure him out. However, he is making his counter adjustment, and he is showing the poise of a true major leaguer.

Melvin had Roupp go back out for his third inning in the top of the ninth, but after Roupp retired the first two men he faced, Chros Taylor walked, and Kiké Hernandez singled to left.

The Dodgers were not going to make it easy for the Giants to win the series. Melvin brought in Tyler Rogers, who was not available last night, and was now pitching for the fourth time in the Giants’ last six games. Austin Barnes doubled to right to knock in a pair and make it 10-4, but Rogers struck out Ohtani swinging to end the game.

Spencer Bivens got the win, and James Paxton took just his second loss of the season.

In addition to Ramos’ three hit game, Soler, Bailey, Villar, Ahmed and Fitzgerald all had two-hit games, every single Giants’ starting position player got a hit Sunday.

The Giants, just as they have all season, went out and responded to a tough loss with an offensive explosion and a big win.

“We’re resilient,” said Melvin. “After tough losses, we come out and do stuff like that, it seems, almost every time.”

“We’re in a tough position right now,” Melvin continued. “We have to start winning series. We gotta roll some games together leading up to the [All-Star] Break, and this was a good start in what is a tough stretch right now.”

The Giants improve to 41-44, and they will head back out on the road for a six-game road trip through Atlanta and Cleveland against two more strong teams. After a day off Monday, the Giants will begin a three-game series Tuesday night at Truist Park in Cumberland, Georgia, just northwest of Atlanta, against the Atlanta Braves.

Hayden Birdsong (0-0, 5.79), who gave up three runs in four and two thirds innings against the Chicago Cubs in his major league debut on Wednesday, will take the ball for the Giants on Tuesday, He will be opposed by Reynaldo Lopez (6-2, 1.70 ERA). First pitch will be at 7:20 p.m. at Truist Park, 4:20 p.m. back home in San Francisco.

Giants News and Notes:

Right-handed pitcher Landen Roupp was called up prior to Sunday’s game, as mentioned in the recap. The Giants designated right-handed pitcher Spencer Howard for assignment as the corresponding roster move